The Peanut Butter Falcon

A warm evening. That special light that only appears at dusk bathing everything in it's glow. Rippling water moving towards the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A raft making it's way down river. Two men onboard lazily drifting towards a far off destination in search of hopes and new beginnings. Relaxed laughter echoing across the dappled surface. Not a care in the world. Sounds lovely doesn't it.

Zak, a 22 year old man with Down Syndrome dreams of being a pro wrestler some day. Sadly his reality is life in a court ordered retirement home where he's cared for by Eleanor, a woman who's life he makes hard on a daily basis. Tyler is a traumatised fisherman who's burned his bridges with his co-workers and feels it's time to move on. One day these two lost souls bump into each other and a friendship for the ages begins.

It's always a lovely when you watch a film you know nothing about and you fall for it instantly. The Peanut Butter Falcon just picked up my top 10 list of the year so far, clotheslined it and threw it out of the ring. It's a beautiful coming of age tale, an (almost) perfectly formed slice of Americana. It's based on the story of Huckleberry Finn but updated just enough to make it recognisable to kids today. It's charming, beautiful looking, enchanting and with just the tiniest edge of magic realism swirled into the mix.

It's the kind of story that just makes you want to down tools and go, like the best road (river) trip movies. Along the way Zak and Tyler meet numerous obstacles and people and every time they surmount something their friendship builds and deepens and it just feels like a privilege to be able to witness it, two damaged people helping rebuild the other and when Eleanor plays a bigger part later in the film they all feel like a whole. It's a film that will give you the warm fuzzies but it has it's sharp edges too as we witness the bigotry aimed towards Zak from people less understanding than Tyler and Eleanor. It's rare that a scene of a child being punched in the face is pleasing but here it's earned. (Sssh, don't tell anyone I said that.)

Zack Gottsagen plays Zak in his film debut and he's just perfect in the part. Strong but vulnerable, nervous yet fearless, a boy in a man's body with huge dreams and the guts to take them on. He's funny but  he's never the object of the film's ridicule. A fully developed character you want to see win. I hope we see more of him. As Tyler, Shia Lebeouf is as good as he's ever been. Warm and full of empathy for his new companion and jumping at the chance to be close to people again. The film hints at his backstory but thankfully never shoves it down our throat ensuring things stay at a lean 90 minutes. I'd love to see him do more work like this. He's good at it. Dakota Johnson as Eleanor doesn't get as much screentime but she makes it work and the film feels right when she gets to stick around as her interactions with both men have a nice naturalistic hum about them.

I loved this. One undeveloped and anticlimactic subplot aside everything about it works. A sublime tale about a side of America rarely seen and the people within who are often forgotten. Oh and old skool wrestling fans are in for a mighty treat in the last 20 minutes. Just ye wait to see who turns up. Memories of saturday mornings will come flooding back fast. The Peanut Butter Falcon will make you smile.